“Shogun” or The Last Samurai

We begin our program with our intrepid crew on their raft through time, relaxing after their latest adventure had them fighting Nazi’s in 1942. As Doctor Heygood recuperates from being injured from a bomb blast, Vixen of the JSA stows away to exact revenge on Mick. Back in ’42, Hourman was killed in JSA headquarters by Reverse Flash, but his dying breath to her was cryptic and easily misunderstood. He said a time traveler had injured him, so of course she immediately thinks it’s the Legends and their resident bad boy, Heat Wave.

Vixen makes rather short work of the crew, rendering them all unconscious. She finds and attacks Mick from behind, but before she can do any damage to him, Dr. Heywood stops her with a big, metal arm! When Ray treated him for his injuries, he injected Heywood with a modified version of the Nazi super-soldier serum that gave him the ability to turn his body metal, like some sort of Colossus.

Getting the hang of his newfound powers, Ray and Heywood are in a loading bay goofing around. At one point, Heywood knocks Ray into the loading bay doors causing a breach that sends them BOTH hurtling through the time stream. For a couple of super-smart guys with advanced degrees, this was a pretty dumb move on their part. When they hit Earth, they land in 17th Century feudal Japan. The local Shogun’s band of merry men confront and capture Ray, whereas a kindly farmer takes Heygood, but it just so happens that this farmer’s daughter is engaged to the Shogun.

Back on the ship, Jefferson gets to work fixing the damage caused by the two educated nincompoops. Although it appears that he did a good job, Stein has some doubts so they ask the A.I. how well he did. Much to their surprise, the ship has more rooms than initially thought so off they go to solve The Mystery of The Hidden Room. When they find it, the room contains a small arsenal and a computer monitor that has a message from Barry “The Flash” Allen (which can be seen every Tuesday night at 8 on Atlanta’s CW) from 2056. The only thing we get to hear is that what Barry is about to say can’t be shared with the crew. We’ll have to wait until another time to hear just what dire warning Barry had for Rip Hunter and now, by default, Stein and Jefferson.

On the ground, Sarah, Mick and 1940s era Vixen search the area for Ray and end up at the Shogun’s castle (all while Mick is looking around for ninjas). They find who they think is Ray, but it turns out it’s the Shogun himself who has purloined Ray’s property. For a 17th Century dude, he gets the hang of 21st Century tech pretty quickly and sends the Legends running for cover. As they seek to get out of harm’s way, they run into Ray who’s escaped from the Shogun’s dungeon.

While that was going on, Heywood was in the village falling in love with the farmer’s daughter as she pampered him. Heygood’s rather quick feelings for the daughter lead him to confront the Shogun’s warriors who were looking for any other strangers (since they’d found Ray). Heygood was under the mistaken impression his newfound powers would save him, but he couldn’t get them to kick in which lead to him being stabbed in the gut.

Sarah and her team are able to track Heywood down in the village he’s been in all of a day. They realize that at some point the Shogun will come to the village for his latest bride, so the team quickly mobilizes to defend the town of long-dead (from their time period) strangers. Ray, in a moment of quiet reflection, has a heart to heart with the farmer who gives him some sage advice about the self-doubts Ray was having. The farmer also hooked him up with some pretty sweet armor too.

During the final showdown, Heywood once again thinks his new powers will save him, but he gets an Atom-suit electro blast to the chest. Ray takes on the Shogun who’s wearing Ray’s battle suit while Sarah and Vixen protect the villagers holed up in a temple. Plus, Mick gets to see and fight ninjas he’s been obsessing about all episode. Sarah and Vixen – who became BFF’s during the episode – take out several of the Shogun’s henchmen, with Sarah – and all her own ninja training – defeating the Shogun’s right hand man.

Speaking of the Shogun, 21st Century Ray while wearing 17th Century armor is taking on 17th Century Shogun wearing a 21st Century battle suit. It soon becomes 2-on-1 when Heywood, now going by the codename “Steel”, is able to access his powers. Prior to the fight, Ray gave Steel the intel on how to defeat his Atom suit which will cause it to explode. And that’s JUST what Steel does, hitting the suit just right taking it, and its wearer, right out. For someone Heywood said was important to history, they saw no problem with erasing him from existence.

Crisis averted and the day/week/month/years/time stream saved, the team – after an awkward kiss between Steel and the farmer’s daughter – hop back on board the ship with Vixen, who appears to be an official part of the team now. With Sarah in the driver’s seat, they head out to time periods unknown. That is until NEXT Thursday night at 8, when a new episode of Legends of Tomorrow airs on Atlanta CW. Follow me on Twitter, @ATLBlerd, and let me know your thoughts. We can also live-tweet the show.